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Topic: Swarm traps (Read 6146 times)

Excellent, thanks for the info Danno, I have got together a couple of test tubes, some cotton wool, a bottle of lemongrass oil, and some old OLD OLD dark comb.

I do have 1 question on using dark old comb - the frames I have are from a past SHB infestation (have been hosed out and frozen). Will any residual smell of the SHB/slime/possible fermentation repel the bees?? I have HEAPS of old dark frames that I took out of the infested hives. Are they good for swarm traps or should I just melt them down?

Last thing I need to do is work out the best container to put it all in.Any suggestions anyone? I was thinking of making a plywood box that will fit 3-4 frames.

Excellent, thanks for the info Danno, I have got together a couple of test tubes, some cotton wool, a bottle of lemongrass oil, and some old OLD OLD dark comb.

I do have 1 question on using dark old comb - the frames I have are from a past SHB infestation (have been hosed out and frozen). Will any residual smell of the SHB/slime/possible fermentation repel the bees?? I have HEAPS of old dark frames that I took out of the infested hives. Are they good for swarm traps or should I just melt them down?

Last thing I need to do is work out the best container to put it all in.Any suggestions anyone? I was thinking of making a plywood box that will fit 3-4 frames.

ML

cant answer the SHB question because we dont have a problem with them this far north. you can make the traps out of ant material because the wont be exposed to weather as long as hive boxes. I like luan because it is made with water proof glues and is only 1/4 thick. The ends I use 3/4 pine because it gives me something to nail the luan to

An eight frame deep would work fine. Some old comb helps. Lemongrass essential oil is the most effective and is cheaper than the vials they sell. Old queen juice (dump your old queens in alcohol and use a few drops of the alcohol) added to it make it even better.

An eight frame deep would work fine. Some old comb helps. Lemongrass essential oil is the most effective and is cheaper than the vials they sell. Old queen juice (dump your old queens in alcohol and use a few drops of the alcohol) added to it make it even better.

Thanks Mike. Due to the previous SHB infestation I might just put some old frames and Lemongrass oil inside one of the now empty hive boxes and see what happens.

A couple of questions in regard to using old dark comb:1. Will they attract wax moth, and if so how do you manage it?2. Are previously SHB infested frames OK after being rinsed out?

I don't have a problem with them here if they are dry (don't have anything in them or on them) until well after swarm season is past as the wax moths aren't around much here until late July and the primary swarm season is from about the first of May to the end of June. But you can spray them with Bt (Certan, Xentari, etc.) if you like.

>2. Are previously SHB infested frames OK after being rinsed out?

I've never had SHB infested frames but from what I hear they leave a mess and a smell, so I don't know if that would deter bees or not. I have no frame of reference with which to answer the question with any surety. But my guess would be that since bees often abscond when this happens in their hive, that it would be risky to expect it to attract bees.

I've never had SHB infested frames but from what I hear they leave a mess and a smell,

Yeah I guess the residual smell is what I am concerned about. I have the same way of thinking that if the bees left a hive because of the SHB, it certainly wouldn't be a good, or reassuring smell when looking for a new hive.If that's the case I guess I'll melt down all of my previously SHB infested combs :-\

I was reading something recently where someone had tested a heap of different swarm traps, and the result was basically:Pheromone worked bestLemongrass oil worked almost as good as pheromone (considering it's cost/volume it's very cheap in comparison!)Old comb was a little better than using nothingNew comb/foundation/wax was questionably better than just the empty box.

I am going to use lemongrass oil, and a chunk of old comb if I have it, otherwise I will just use a few frames with starter strips, and rub a bit of wax onto them plus some lemongrass oil.

Its definintely something that interests me and i can see myself having a play in swarm season! I'm just going to buy some swarm boxes, put some fresh foundation and frames in there, some lemon grass oil and see what happens. I'm thinking of setting up two in one location:

1) With new foundation and Lemongrass Oil2) With new foundation and pheromone

What i find interesting is that the scouts are attracted to Queen Phermonone? why would that be? I mean they have a queen with the swarm who has her own pheromone.

I live in a suburban area but near me there is a river with lots of native vegetation along side it - hopefully there are some feral hives that like my boxes better than other alternatives. I'm going to put a few boxes in a couple of different places and see what happens. I'll keep the forum updated on my results...

So far Slickos mandarin/macadamia tree is winning hands down :-D but - mandarin is citrus and lemongrass has a lemon smell - it might be that citrus compound that is attracting the bees? interestingly both mandarin oil and lemongrass oil contain limonene

Hello All, This will be my first year trying to build and use a swarm trap. I am going to build the boxes out of light wood with the top and bottom screwed on, the size of a ten frame deep. I have some neat locations to try. One is where a guy use to have twenty hives but let them all go to rot. Literally the boxes were left till they started falling down on there own. They are in an old woods with a lot of big and some dead trees. Might pick up a ferral swarm there. I also have a section of woods near me that is full of wild cherrie trees. will put one there. Over on the farm next to me is an old apple orchard where the trees have not been tended for at least thirty years. I will put one there in the corner of the woods. I want to put one at my fathers just cause and another one down the road about two hundred yards from where another guy has two hives. He lost half a dozen hives last year to swarming or whatever he is not sure. Maybe one of his swarms stuck around somewhere.

Question: I only have one hive and it seems to be going gang busters in two deeps right now. Can I pull empty frames from them. I would like to pull five so I would have one drawn new frame for each swarm trap and put nine other frames in with starter strips. Back to my one hive. If I pull five drawn frames that are empty, will this help in regards to them thinking of swarming? This is a swarm I hived last year.

Question: I only have one hive and it seems to be going gang busters in two deeps right now. Can I pull empty frames from them. I would like to pull five so I would have one drawn new frame for each swarm trap and put nine other frames in with starter strips. Back to my one hive. If I pull five drawn frames that are empty, will this help in regards to them thinking of swarming? This is a swarm I hived last year.

Why not just build a four or five frame nuc box? I'm assuming the 10 frame box you're proposing to build isn't what the swarm will stay in? Two five frame nucs will give you twice the catching capacity as one ten frame...

I'm a newbie but i'm guessing if you pull five drawn frames and replace that with five undrawn frames your hive won't want to swarm (they wouldn't want to swarm if you left the five drawn frames either) as they see this as room that would need filling... you won't have a swarm until every frame is chockers and ther is simply no room left. Correct me if i'm wrong but you should be managing your hives sufficiently so that they don't swarm - not encouraging a swarm. Split before they swarm...